——The Press Conference of the Preparation and Launch up of the 8^th Beijing International Art Biennale was Held in Beijing

Zuo Zhongyi, Vice Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles

In the speech delivered by Zuo Zhongyi, Vice Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, he strengthened that: “China Federation of Literary and Art Circles is one of the sponsors of the Beijing Biennale, so it will actively create favorable conditions to facilitate artists from all over the world to show their talent on the platform of Beijing Biennale. We sincerely invite artists from different countries to participate into the exhibition, depict the new scroll featured by international artistic exchanges and communications and write the new chapter featured by peaceful coexistence, sincere dialogue and mutual learning. We expect that the 8th Beijing Biennale will make more explorations in expanding the depth and scope of cultural exchange and cooperation. We hope that it will become better and better with more excellent paintings and sculptures, which will bring new breakthroughs and achievements in the 8th Beijing Biennale.

The world now is featured by globalization, rapid development, great transformation and adjustment and deep development of world multi-polarization, economic globalization and culture integration. The destiny of humans from countries in the world becomes very closely interconnected. That is to say, we are living in an era that demands more communication and understanding.

China will always be a builder of world peace, contributor to global development and keeper of international order. China’s Project is expected to be integrated into the system of global governance and play a more active role in the world transition period. China would like to cooperate with other global partners to make more progress for people from all over the world and benefit all countries in the world.

At the moment, culture especially art plays an even bigger role in safeguarding the peaceful development, common prosperity and cultural diversity. Art is an international universal language so that it becomes the natural responsibility of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Artists Association in the new era to Stick to carry forward academic democracy, artistic democracy, the spirit of aesthetics, build a positive, healthy, embracing and harmonious atmosphere for holding exhibition, put forward a full discussion of different points of view and schools, advocating full development of artistic subjects, forms and channels and promote the proactive innovation of philosophy, contents, styles and schools of artists and artworks. ”

Xu Li, Executive Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association

In the speech delivered by Xu Li, Executive Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association, he mentioned: “After 16 years of development since it was initiated according to the international practice in 2003, the Beijing Biennale, co-sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Government of Beijing Municipality and the China Artists Association has succefully held seven sessions and established the Chinese Model.

Art is an important carrier to tell the story of China and story of the world, demonstrate the charm of China and the world, improve the image of China and upgrade China’s cultural soft power. At the moment, the China Artists Association is trying its best to carry out cultural exchange activities with foreign countries, attempting to making achievements in further develop its contents, forms and systems.

Beijing Biennale, is always an important platform of the China Artists Association for international exchanges. The 8th Beijing Biennale is going to invite artists from all over the world to demonstrate the subject of the era under the theme of “A Colorful World and A Shared Future”. It is thought to be the historical responsibility of Chinese artists to depict the story of China using the generally accepted artistic languages and they are expected to tell the story efficiently that can be understood by others, stimulate strong emotions of both Chinese and foreign people under the direction of “The Story of China and the Subject of Humankind”. The outlook on philosophy believed by the Chinese people since ancient times featuring “we are with the same family”, the outlook on the world “harmony in diversity”, the outlook on nature “man is an integral part of nature”, the outlook on aesthetics “harmony is a virtue” and the outlook on how to live in the world “harmony is precious” could be the contents of the artworks for depicting the peaceful development of China. Suggestions for specific subjects of artwork creation include China’s rapid development, the stories of those who work strenuously for poverty reduction, the image of the heroes in all fields and the wonders of China’s latest development: the sprawling network of high speed railways, bridges and expressways; “Tiangong” flying to the Moon, “Jiaolong” submersible craft, “FAST”, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, “Wukong” , “Mozi”, “Beidou” and other scientific achievements; the successful launch of the first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou 1 which is independently developed; the successful extraction of flammable ice for the first time; the well-completed world’s longest ocean-crossing bridge-Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge; the officially opening of the world first quantum confidential communication link-Jing-Hu (Beijing-Shanghai) Trunk Line and China’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage—all these should be the main subjects of theme-based artwork creation, which will demonstrate a authentic, vivid, diversified and comprehensive China and to express China’s philosophy under the international background. All the artworks are supposed to connect the tradition and the modernity and bridge the gap between China and the western countries by centering on an appropriate subject to make the world understand China better, understand the connection between the journey to modernization of China and the community of a shared future for mankind and facilitate the philosophy of community with a shared future to develop further.

In order to facilitate artists to determine their own creation direction or theme, we provide several sub-topics under the motif “A Colorful World and A Shared Future” as options for artists to choose. In so doing, we believe a splendid world will be presented with multi-perspectives at the exhibition, covering topics of environmental degradation, local conflicts, nuclear war threat, terrorist attack, refugee crisis, financial crisis, wealth gap, unknown epidemic and other global problems. What’s more, by obtaining, processing and refining topics like international peacekeeping, international medical service, artificial intelligence, digital silk road, aeronautics and astronautics, global environmental governance, international poverty reduction and disaster reduction and China’s opportunities, the common faith and future of humankind can be revealed and expressed which is defined by peaceful development and common prosperity. Let’s make the world more colorful and diversified by demonstrating the unique art expressions of different nations and ethnic groups and different points of view in understanding the world with an artistic perspective.

A colorful world symbolizes and welcomes an auspicious tomorrow, which is the shared future for mankind. The 8th Beijing Biennale coincides with the beginning of a new era and it is confident to present China’s project and the world’s prospect by means of art, to demonstrate the fair and equitable international order and global governance system, to interpret the philosophy of a community with a shared future for mankind which is the mainstream of the globalization and the new era of global governance, which will facilitate the understanding of audiences from China and foreign countries and make contributions for building a community with a shared future for mankind with the power of art. ”

Wu Weishan, Chief Curator of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale is answering the question from media

Tao Qin, Vice Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Vice Secretary General of the China Artists Association, Counsel and Convener of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale is presenting the press conference

Tao Qin, Vice Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Vice Secretary General of the China Artists Association, Counsel and Convener of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale introduced that, it has always been exhibited at the National Art Museum of China since the first Beijing Biennale. Based on this, we have built partnership with the NAMOC for decades. The NAMOC is taken as a regular venue for Beijing Biennale. While we are waiting for the official approval from upper relevant department, we editted and printed out the brochure for theme-based artwork creation and graphic reference, which integrated a wide range of source material covering the common problem faced by humankind and the beautiful aspirations and efforts concerning our shared future. Artists from China and foreign countries are expected to make creative transformation and touch more fields for artwork creation. Besides, the official website of Beijing Biennale was upgraded in its appearance and function where all participating artists can download the Regulations and relevant forms of the exhibition.

Guan Yu, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Cultural Bureau is answering the question from media

Wu Weishan, Chief Curator of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale, Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association and Curator of the National Art Museum of China mentioned the following while he answered the question from media.  

The theme is decided by several rounds of heated discussion and we are expected to select a theme that can both represent the spirit of the culture of China and be easily accepted by the world under the frame of “a community with a shared future”. I think such a theme will attract widespread attention. The main concept of “a community with a shared future” is the meaning of “shared”, namely, the same direction we are moving forward for the most beautiful future featuring peaceful development. There is a term “stand together through thick and thin on the same boat”. The boat actually is a boat of peace and friendship heading for the common development and for the future, which is consistent with the signification of “a community with a shared future” and which we felt intimately connected. Since the founding of the Reform and Opening up Policy，China Artists Association has always been active in promoting the Chinese Art to the world and inviting excellent international art to China. The theme of the 8th Beijing Biennale covers a wide range of subjects so that every artist, no matter where they are from will have their own interpretation.   

Guan Yu, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Cultural Bureau strengthened the following while she answered the question from media.

The philosophy of a shared future for mankind proposed by President Xi Jinping has won widespread recognition and welcome from more people in different countries in the world. The 8th Beijing Biennale chose “A Colorful World and A Shared Future” as its theme, which meets the capital Beijing’s culture and image orientation. The theme will definitely provide infinite inspirations for artists, making them pay attention to the era, to life and to themselves and express humanistic and cultural emotions with sincere artistic languages. The Beijing Biennale has added color to the city of Beijing by providing high standard cultural products for all the people in Beijing during the exhibition. Up to now, there are altogther more than one millon audiences who visited the exhibition, which could reflect its contributions in the building of a cultural center and improving the cultural influence of Beijing.

Wang Yong, Convener of the curatorial committee of the 8th Beijing Biennale is answering the question from media

Representatives from embassies and artists in the press conference

Representatives from embassies expressed that, through this press conference, they got important information on artwork creation, special exhibition application, exhibition time and venue and contribution information etc.. The contents of the promotion brochure and the video is detailed and vivid. They promised they would forward the regulation and forms of the exhibition in a timely manner and try their best to better facilitate the exhibition.  

Romain Barrabas, Deputy Director of Culture and Press of the Embassy of Switzerland

While he accepted the interview by CCTV, Romain Barrabas, Deputy Director of Culture and Press of the Embassy of Switzerland said：

“There were about 20 pieces of artworks selected for the previous Beijing Biennales. If we consider the size and poplulation of Switzerland, the number 20 is acutually is a large number, which shows the Beijing Biennale is well recognized by artists from Switzerland. The theme of the 8th Beijing Biennale covers a large scope, so artists can respond to the theme from different perspectives, for example, the relations among different cultures and our common homeland. Let’s expect excellent artworks by artists from Switzerland in the 8th Beijing Biennale. ”

Garo Bernard André, a participating artist of the last Beijing Biennale said the following in his interview.

“Something comes into my mind after I knew the theme of the 8th Beijing Biennale is “Ecology”. I hope to present our common challenges in my work, like global warming, environmental pollution. All these influence our common future and homeland. Art is a universal language for mankind, so artwork centering on the theme will give rise to consensus building. ”

Raheel Tariq, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Pakistan mentioned the following in the interview by SHPD.

“After I watched the promotion video, I personally felt that Beijing Biennale is a great team and the theme “A Colorful World and A Shared Future” is a great one as it follows the trend of the era. I believe that at the motivation of the Beijing Biennale, people in the world will feel more peace and harmony by sharing their own culture. I am looking forward to seeing more artworks reflecting peace and harmony of the world in the next Beijing Biennale. ”

Timkina Veronika, Second Secretary of the Embassy of Belarus mentioned the following in the interview.

“Belarus has always been active in taking part in the construction of the‘Belt and Road Initiative’and closely paid attention to the exchanges in culture between China and Belarus. Artists from Belarus valued the Beijing Biennale and they will definitely participate in the next exhibition with their artworks. The promotion video is refreshing and interesting with dynamism.”

Muhammad Egamzod, First Secretary of the Embassy of Takistan expressed the following while he accepted the interview by China Pictorial.

“The 8th Beijing Biennale will be a significant exhibition for the world because the whole world expect open and transparent dialogue. People from all over the world should have mutual understanding in their culture and history. The Beijing Biennale provides a platform for artists from all over the world to communicate with each other for their culture and history. ”

Representatives from embassies and artists in the press conference

Representatives of Chinese artists in the press conference

A colorful world will usher in a splendid future, which represents the common destiny for mankind. The 8th Beijing International Art Biennale comes at a time as socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a “new era” and it is confident of presenting China’s project and the world’s prospect by means of art. The theme of the 8th Beijing Biennale, “A Colorful World and A Shared Future” is an upgrade of the series of themes of the previous seven Beijing Biennales and it also highlights and echoes with the current hot topics. A colorful world is the realistic foundation of our shared future while a shared future is a direction for a colorful world to follow. The principle of visual arts reflects the wisdom and philosophy of mankind. Artists from all over the world are expected to be inspired by the theme to describe the shared future for mankind in their creation based on their experience, thinking and proposition. Therefore, many incredibly vivid personal destinies will be manifested to uphold positive energy of mankind.

After the press conference, the key work of the 8th Beijing Biennale will focus on the contribution solicitation. The organizing committee expect to get support from all circles and reach out to artists in all countries in the world. The due date for collecting applications is on December 25th, the Christmas Day in 2018. It is firmly believed that, the exhibition will become much better in the future by the concerted effort of all. As is shown in the theme “A Colorful World and A Shared Future”, the 8th Beijing Biennale will help artists to form their outlook on the globe and the universe. Let’s take part in the building of a community with a shared future for mankind by the power of art.